1966: ‘Ghost town’ of Quandahl auctioned for $15,330

A once-thriving village nestled into the Bear Creek valley, Quandahl’s history followed the path of so many other small country towns in the mid 20th century, except for how it ended: On an early October morning in 1966, the entire village went up for auction.

Ladies of Waterloo Ridge Church served refreshments. Ozzie (Osmund) Quandahl, one of the great-grandsons of village founder Nels Jacobsen Quandahl, played the part of auctioneer, with three others, to sell off six houses and various structures that remained. They did it, he said, because “we hated to see the places empty, and every owner wanted to sell, so we decided on this unique way of doing it. We think persons interested in having a weekend place for fishing and hunting may want to buy these places.” Indeed, around 1000 people turned up in tiny Quandahl on Sunday, October 2, 1966, to give new life to what had already become a ghost town.

Village of Quandahl, 1916

“This is one of the finest fishing and hunting areas in Iowa, and when we tell this place, the scenery goes right along with it,” said Ozzie Quandahl, starting the auction. Bright fall colors were just coming into the trees and temps were in the mid-60s.

Most of the thousand people were curious onlookers, the newspapers said. Yet all the properties in town sold that day, raising a total of $15,330 – or roughly the cost of a single new home in 1966. To keep things interesting, the audience would record guesses for the sale price; the closest guesser would win a canned ham.

Already gone from Quandahl was the Arctic Spring Creamery, one of the first in Allamakee County; its stone structure was razed by 1966 and it then was a popular fishing spot. The creamery started in the 1890s as a private enterprise by J. D. Johnson, and was purchased by the community in the early 1900s and turned into a cooperative. Under butter maker M. E. Bakken, the creamery produced 75,000 lbs of butter per year which was brought to market in Spring Grove; in 1927, butter maker Olaf Goodno produced 100,000 lbs of butter and the creamery was reported to be thriving, though it would shortly go out of business.

Also defunct was a chance at revival. In 1945, the Brooklyn, NY, camera parts manufacturer Mansfield Industries moved into the former Quandahl mercantile store and supported 15 workers who lived nearby. Mansfield was run by Theodore Frumpkin of Brooklyn, who had married Norma Quandahl in Chicago and moved into the old mercantile store. By 1948 manufacturing activity was forced to move to Spring Grove because Quandahl had no electricity supply and the equipment had been operating on gas generators; the old Quandahl store continued to function for a time as an assembly plant. The local business did very well, growing to a $35 million operation (1962) headquartered in Chicago. Sylvania bought out the company in 1964 and the Spring Grove plant closed.

Around 1900 and at its peak population of about 60, Quandahl was also home to a grist mill, a dry goods store, a hardware store, a grocery store, a bank, a blacksmith shop, a shoe maker, and the nearby Bear Creek Woolen Mill. From 1920 to 1940 there was an American Legion post named after saw mill and feed mill owner Lewis H Morken, who died in battle on the last day of World War I.

Town founder Jacob Nelson Quandahl, wife Sigrid, and sons Nels and Peder immigrated from Norway in 1854 and lived briefly in Winneshiek County. After moving to section 30 of Waterloo Township, Allamakee County, in 1857, Jacob Quandahl started a mercantile store. Eventually, Nels would run the store and act as postmaster and Peder would operate the grist mill. Jacob Severt Quandahl would take over the mercantile store when his father died in 1910; his business had “a large and constantly increasing patronage being accorded to him in recognition of his upright and honorable business methods, his known reliability and his earnest desire to please his patrons.” Their store and grist mill closed in 1929; the bank, which opened a new building in 1919, closed in 1928.

Business declined due to the Great Depression and advances in manufacturing, transportation, communications, and farming. Jacob Severt Quandahl attributed the decline to “too many other towns in the vicinity drawing the farm trade.” The village of Quandahl slowly died. The remaining properties that sold in 1966 were:

Quandahl Savings Bankhouse, sold by Mrs. Sander (Carrie) Quandahl (mother of Ozzie) to Harold Ness of Decorah for $2100, including the foundation and vault of the destroyed bank

63-acre plot with a house sold by Mrs. Quandahl for $4980 to Ronald Gavle, Dorchester

Ozzie Quandahl house, a 4-bedroom structure with an ice house, known as the “shoemaker place” and also the “old Erickson place,” sold to Elmer, Jack and Bessie Peterson from Cedar Falls for $750. They planned to remodel it for use as a summer home. “My son and I will use it for trout fishing on weekends,” Elmer Peterson explained

Johannes Sollien home. Bidding failed to meet the reserve price of $2500; Sollien sold the property later that day for $3500 to a Des Moines couple, William Sezr and Ruth Schuler

Louis Powell home, with 14 acres of land, sold for $3100 to Ingvald Tostenson of Waukon

Blacksmith shop and dilapidated house of Gust Sacquitne sold to Roy Svebakken of Decorah for $900 in a package deal

Almost 50 years after the auction, the town looks tired. Foundations of older buildings, including the old mercantile store, are scattered between the few old homes that still stand, desperate for repair. Only one house has recently been refurbished.

If you happen to know more about the history of Quandahl, please share it! There are apparently two memoirs (first, second) written by members of the Quandahl family, but they are not in any library near here.

Sources:

Iowa Town Goes at Auction, Des Moines Register, 10-03-1966

Town for Sale in NE Iowa, Cedar Rapids Gazette, 9-25-1966

Northeast Iowa Town for Sale, Cedar Rapids Gazette, 9-16-1966 p9

Homes Sold in Quandahl, Winona Daily News, 10-4-1966

Iowa Town Sold at Auction for $15,330, Cedar Rapids Gazette, 10-3-1966

12 Responses to 1966: ‘Ghost town’ of Quandahl auctioned for $15,330

I lived many years in the Old Quandahl house on the east edge of town., until 1965 when Dad( Harry Metcalf) moved to spring Grove, Mn. and I went in the Army. .I have many fond memories of growing up in the house.
on the hill overlooking Bear Creek

Hi Robert, I am sure you will not remember this but your parents were kind enough to let me and my dad stay a few nights at your home in the early 1950,s. We were in Quandahl to replace the roof on our old house. I think you may have been around 7 or 8 years old at the time and I was about 12 or 13. I was only a year old when our family moved to Illinois but still drive through Quandahl once in a while.

I’ve seen a book called (I think) “Quantum Quandahl” by (I think!) Ruth Quandahl; It’s big & I read a lot of it. My sister Alice (Larson) Miller has a copy & I thought the Spring Grove Library had a copy. My dad Henry Larson used to play guitar & banjo & sing there sometimes…guess he was quite entertaining!! The book is very detailed & interesting. I live on Bear Creek now, about 5 miles downstream from Quandahl. I grew up right next to where I live now & have heard stories about my mother walking to Quandahl to trade eggs for groceries, etc. The world has sure changed over the years!! Linda (Larson) Eiken

I lived their when I was around 3 yrs old my family was raised their it a beautiful and quit little place ,I love to go and vist their it’s just like your in another world out their, My family is the Engan and the Stone.

My great grandfather was Nels Jacob Quandahl, and I have pictures from the town when it was thriving. My dad’s aunt, Ruth Quandahl Vick, did write the book “Quandam Quandahl” of which I have a copy. It is fun reading about life of my family in those days. My father, Norval Lopshire, (Martha Quandahl Lopshire’s son) just passed away last December 13, 2013 at the age of 93. I really wished that I had found this and other information about Quandahl prior to his passing, as he was sharp as a tack til the day he died, and would have loved to see and read all of this and other information. I would love to one day see the place in person!

Hello Susie,
I am one of the current owners of the Arctic Springs Creamery and interested in acquiring memorabilia about the Creamery as well as a copy of “Quandam Quandahl”. Would you know anyone who has such items? I would be happy to show you the property if you are ever in the area. bill fanter

Hi Bill,
It’s wonderful to hear from you! I will see what I have regarding the creamery, info and pictures and email them to you. What does the area look like now? Could you send me pictures of the way the area currently looks like? My cousin, Tom Rourke, and his wife, Sharon, were just there in Quandahl looking around and taking pictures there, it’s too bad that he didn’t have your contact info while they were there. As far as the book is concerned, I believe that one of the surrounding libraries has a copy, I’ll find out more about that as well. I’m sure you can understand that I would be reluctant to send our family’s only copy away—
I will try to send something to you soon-
Regards,
Susie

I have a bit of info that you may be interested in. I tried to copy and paste to this, but it’s not working. Is there an email that I can send attachments to? I’ve taken photos of the info on the creamery in Quandom Quandahl as jpg files—if this doesn’t work, I can scan and send in a different format, perhaps.

Anyways–here is some information from my cousin, Tom–he wrote–

Yes, I found the message very interesting!

Sharon and I did not see the “creamery” when we visited Quandahl. I did find this link

that lists the Arctic Springs Creamery as being in Quandahl in 1894 and others showing it in existence in 1883 through 1916. The Norwegian Ridge web site says the Quandahl creamery was razed sometime before the 1966 town auction.

I did Google search for the Arctic Springs Creamery and found old dairy records, etc., with an Arctic Springs Creamery both at Quandahl and at Galesville, Wisconsin. There is an spring named “Arctic Spring” in Galesville. The earliest reference I’ve seen so far to the Galesville creamery was in 1883 when a buttermaker got married. Perhaps the Quandahl Arctic Spring Creamery was owned by the same company as the one in Wisconsin but I can’t find anything to confirm a link between them. Without a connection between them I doubt there would be an interest from the current Arctic Spring Creamery.

Here is a link about the Quandahl creamery about its uniqueness on the bottom of the Creamery Journal, page 20. If you scroll to page 1, you see the picture below of the creamery just like the one in Ruth’s book.

Hi Bill–
Yes, I did—and did you receive the email with copies of pages from the Quandahl book referring the Creamery? There were a couple of pictures as well–If not, let me know, and I’ll send it again–
Regards,
Susie